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The championship contender benefited from a strategy call from McLaren that contradicted decisions made by all other squads during an early race safety car deployment

This proved to be a expensive choice that sacrificed track position to the Red Bull driver in the closing laps and retrospectively threw away the victory for the Australian driver

Race Outcome and Championship Implications

The race winner won to take his seventh win of the season, matching the McLaren drivers, while the Piastri was runner-up and the Briton fourth behind the Williams of the Spanish driver

Norris earned an extra two points by overtaking Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes on the penultimate lap

The championship leader has been left with a twelve point advantage over his rival, who moved ahead of his teammate by four points heading to the final race on 5-7 December

To secure the title, the British driver must finish at least third at Yas Marina if Verstappen wins the race next Sunday

Critical Moments of the Dramatic Race

• McLaren's decision not to pit when a yellow flag was deployed on lap seven for a crash between the French team's Gasly and the Swiss team's Hulkenberg
• A strategy initiated by the Australian to bring forward his last pit stop in a last-ditch effort to catch the leader proved unsuccessful
• A unexpected podium finish for the Williams driver gifted by McLaren's strategy call

The Way The British Team Missed Out in Qatar

The fateful point for the team was when Gasly and Hulkenberg came together as the Hulkenberg tried to overtake the Frenchman around the outside of the first corner on lap seven

The German's car was left damaged beside the track This triggered the safety car

The critical part of the timing was that it meant there were 50 laps left in the grand prix

With the tire manufacturer imposing a 25-lap maximum usage on the tyres, that signified anyone who pitted at that moment was locked into a fixed plan with a additional pit stop on lap 32

Driver Responses and After the Event Comments

No words

The McLaren driver commented in his after-race interview: Clearly we didn't get it right tonight I drove the best race I could, as fast as I could, but there was nothing left out there Tried my utmost but didn't get it done

The race winner stated: This was an incredible race for us We made the right call to box It was smart And extremely pleased to triumph in Qatar and remain competitive to the head, remarkable

Final Grand Prix Positions

• 1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
• 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren Racing)
• 3. Sainz (Williams)
• 4. Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes-AMG)
• 6. George Russell (Mercedes-AMG)
• 7. Alonso (Aston Martin F1)
• 8. Leclerc (Scuderia Ferrari)
• 9. Liam Lawson (RB F1 Team)
• 10. Tsunoda (Red Bull)

Looking Ahead

The crucial title decider at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit This venue does not produce the most exciting racing, but once again this twilight race features an event which appears set to become every bit as dramatic as Sebastian Vettel's maiden championship in 2010, or the Dutch driver's much-debated initial championship in 2021